In his book Atomic Habits, author James Clear describes habits as the compound interest of self-improvement. In other words, more often than not, the big changes in life aren’t actually big changes at all, but rather little changes, consistently carried out over time. That is precisely the magic of compound interest – it is nothing more than incremental growth multiplied exponentially over time that builds wealth.
Of course, for anyone to find this perspective attractive enough to consider implementing any new habits, one monumental assumption is necessary: an individual has to see the value of self-improvement. It may shock or surprise you, but an astounding number of people actually choose to simmer and stew in their current situation, retaining a woe-is-me victim mindset that prefers the narrative of negativity. They can be so committed to holding on to that view that it goes well beyond just the glass is half-empty perspective; they’re convinced that everyone else but them even got a glass in the first place! But, if we embrace that God’s call for us to grow is not optional, then establishing healthy habits is foundational to that growth.
So why has it been so hard for you to establish habits? The answer may very well be found in determining the driving force behind our efforts at establishing habits. What is that? Often times it’s guilt – guilt used positively or guilt used negatively (“I should do this; I shouldn’t do that.”). Ultimately guilt will give up, because guilt is not a sustainable driving force. It is a rather cruel slave-driver. It cares not where one’s heart is, but only about the end result, only about whether or not the action itself being achieved. Guilt is relentless and suffocating.
But Christians realize that we have something else at our disposal, something far more powerful than guilt: we have grace. Grace-motivated habits instead of guilt-induced habits is really what this series is about. And our approach will be different. While we will spend a good amount of time focusing on Jesus and his habits, we need to be crystal clear on why we’re doing so. We are NOT doing so to reduce Jesus to something so insulting as merely an example for us to follow. You don’t need more examples to follow. There are plenty of good ones in the world. The problem isn’t finding examples to follow; the problem is our inability to follow them. And frankly, Jesus came to be far more for you than just an example to follow anyway.
He came to be your Savior, your Substitute. And to do that, we want to appreciate how he carried out what was necessary to be our Savior: his active obedience and his passive obedience. They aren’t the same thing, but they’re both instrumental to our salvation, and they’re both crucial for helping us establish grace-motivated habits.
What do we mean by Jesus’ passive obedience? This is the work of Jesus that we most frequently associate with carrying out our salvation. Jesus passively endured the punishment, suffering, and death that were carried out against him. This is not only remarkable because he was innocent and didn’t deserve it, but even more so because as God, he had the power and ability to keep it from happening. Yet he chose not to! He passively allowed others to inflict it all upon him because he was experiencing it as our Substitute, enduring the punishment and judgment that our sins deserved. He passively paid the price so that we wouldn’t have to.
Less commonly addressed is the importance of Jesus’ active obedience, which refers to his ability to actively maintain holiness in his thoughts, words, and actions throughout his whole life. As a God of justice, the Father’s requirements for a right relationship with him are that sin must be paid for and that 100% round-the-clock perfection be maintained. So if Jesus had only died for our sins, our salvation would be incomplete. We needed a Savior, a Substitute who could also live perfectly for us. Jesus actively resisted all temptation and conducted his entire life with complete perfection. He actively obeyed all of God’s demands. It is his active obedience that will serve as the focus of this series, and the grace flowing from that active obedience that will enable us to pattern our Habits of His Grace.
So let us appreciate the first of our habits of grace: faithfulness. How do we define “faithfulness?” Often times it is used almost interchangeably with “commitment.” Being faithful is viewed as being committed to doing what you said you were going to do. You work at a job faithfully for years. You are faithful in your marriage. To be faithful is to be committed to staying the course. While I don’t think that’s a bad definition or way of understanding it, maybe we’re overcomplicating it a bit. Perhaps a simpler understanding of faithfulness is merely being full of faith. Filled with trust. Full of conviction. Being full of faith not in my own ability to stay the course, but in God’s promise to stay his course in my life.
We see Jesus being full of faith, even when he was virtually empty of the basic necessities of life. “At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him” (Mark 1:12-13). Forty days in the dessert lacking – not being full of, but almost empty of – the things we take for granted. He had no suitcase with several changes of clothes. There was no cooler being pulled behind him to keep food fresh and ready any time he was hungry. No comfy cozy bed in which to sleep and no roof over his head. He was running on empty in just about every way imaginable.
Except faith. Even without all that he was missing, Jesus was still full of faith, or faithful. When everything else is lost or gone, and faith is all you have, you see that faith is all you really need. Jesus faithfully stood up to each of the devil’s temptations, as the other Gospels record. And Jesus’ faithfulness was not only on display in his ability to keep from falling into the devil’s temptation in the dessert, but also in his faithful preaching, “‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’” (v.15). Making that even more noteworthy, John had already been imprisoned for proclaiming that message, yet Jesus did not put his message on mute, but proclaimed it faithfully.
Jesus wasn’t alone in demonstrating this habit of grace, his faithfulness. The Holy Spirit and the Father got it on the action, too! The Holy Spirit faithfully directed Jesus into the dessert in the first place, knowing it was necessary for Jesus to succeed in battle against Satan and his temptation in our place. And when Jesus did succeed, God the Father faithfully sent angels to attend Jesus in his time of need, just as he had promised in Psalm 91:11, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” See how our faithful Triune God works in perfect harmony with the faithful obedience of the Son!
And what difference does his faithfulness make when it comes to you developing this habit of grace? All the difference in the world! His faithfulness not only fills in the cracks of your unfaithfulness, as if you were almost there but just needed Jesus to finish it up for you! No, it’s his whole record of faithfulness, not yours, or your lack thereof – that already counts toward God! Who of us would feel confident in making a case before God based on our own past faithfulness? Would we like to point to the number of times our actions were more reflective of a person without faith than a person of faith? How about the times that doubt and worry about our situation smothered any sense of faith and trust we ought to have had in God’s promises? Our general lack of commitment, our unfaithfulness just in our relationship with God, which hops all over the place from lukewarm to cold to hot – is that the kind of “faithfulness” we wish God to take note of on our accounts? Let us hope not, for we know what the eternal outcome of such flawed faithfulness would be!
Let Jesus’ faithfulness in the face of temptation in the desert be the source of confidence for the faithfulness God demands. Let the price Jesus paid on the cross be sufficient payment for your unfaithfulness. So you have been freed from the guilt of your unfaithfulness, which has been replaced by the grace of his faithfulness! Do you understand? You have been freed from your own disastrous track record of unfaithfulness and freed for a guilt-free life of becoming more and more faithful, with every ounce of fear of failure having been removed. The Father already has counted the Son’s perfect faithfulness to your account. You aren’t left lacking. You aren’t left in your unfaithfulness. You are faithful, for Jesus was faithful in your stead.
So be what you are, be faithful, for in doing so, you are merely living up to how God already sees you in Christ. Be full of faith in your commitment to growing and developing your faith. Be full of faith in your marriage. Be full of faith in your friendships and interactions with others. Be full of faith as you let your light shine on social media. Be full of faith and stand out in a faithless world. Be faithful, not because you must, but because you already are in Christ Jesus.
I don’t know about you, but I get excited about this kind of stuff. You may not consider yourself to be into growth and personal development, but let me challenge you to reconsider. That’s one of the many unique blessed perks of belonging to Jesus – he does the growing in us. The Holy Spirit will see to it that you grow and develop personally – that’s his job. We call it sanctification, or growth in Christian living. It’s who we have been made to be. It’s who we are. It’s how we can faithfully make an eternal difference in a faithless world that concerns itself with what is temporary. Your faithfulness matters. God can use it to make a huge impact!
How then can you establish this habit of his grace – faithfulness – in your day-to-day life? Don’t overwhelm yourself with all the areas that you could develop this habit and then do nothing. Pick just one area and commit to following through with it faithfully. It might be daily Bible reading. It might be worshipping weekly. It might be giving consistently. It might be scheduling prayer. It might be witnessing intentionally. Be confident that the compound interest of this habit of his grace will not only lead to self-improvement, but will also build up and bless Christ’s Kingdom as well.